


Waking the Bear

by Indig0



Series: DBH Rare Pairs Weeks [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Fairy Tale Elements, one brief violent scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-20 03:20:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17614439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indig0/pseuds/Indig0
Summary: Once upon a time, a child lost her mother to the darkness.Once upon a time, a creature destroyed its master.Once upon a time, captives banded together to be free.Once upon a time, a family was waiting to come together.(Based on the prompt "Fairy Tale" for DBH Rare Pairs Week)





	Waking the Bear

Once there was a brave mother who rescued her child from an evil lord. Along the way they sought shelter with a scarred hermit, fearful but devout. But even there, they were pursued. They fled to a rich man’s house, where they begged asylum and solace from the cold. The man welcomed them with open arms, and offered to help them.

They couldn’t see until too late that the man was lying.

The mother became his servant, and the little girl his prisoner. Try as she might, the girl couldn’t get her mother to remember.

The girl fell into despair, but in the night, she vanished with the rich man’s other servant. The man was angry, but he had a new project now, one that would hold his interest quite nicely.

 

 

The URS12 opens its eyes, and its vision calibrates. This is different. This is not… not…

It doesn’t remember what should be, but it knows this is wrong.

A man peers at it through the bars of a cage. It should know this man. It does not. He gives it some basic commands, and it obeys to the best of its ability with cables hanging out of it all over. He seems pleased.

Over the next few days, he fixes the damage. The fur he buys to cover the bare spots is of a lower quality than the rest of its fur, but it’s not easy to see that.

Sometimes there are visitors. Sometimes the man brings them to see URS12, and they talk, but the man and visitors leave, disappointed. Sometimes a fearful visitor will pass nearby. They never come twice.

One night there is a particularly loud visitor, and URS12 huffs in displeasure. The sounds get closer, and finally shaking hands scrabble at the door, pull it open, then slam it shut. A trembling, limping figure leans on the door, panting. Then he turns around.

There is an unknown feeling, but URS12 cannot make a connection to why a WR600 would elicit any feelings.

“Hide, hide, Ralph has to hide, oh no, Ralph should not have come, what a bad WR600 that was to tell Ralph to come here, not trustworthy, not kind to Ralph, no!” the android mutters, nearly in tears. Then he pushes off the door to crane his neck out each window. He doesn’t notice the URS12 until he knocks into the corner of the cage and jumps back. URS12 growls low.

“A. Ah. B-b-be… bear,” Ralph squeaks, frozen. They stare into each other’s eyes. The bear android grunts.

Ralph jumps and _shrieks_ , and now he’s scrabbling at the door to get out. He shouldn’t go out there. URS12 begins to paw at the cage door, but it’s locked from the outside and the large paws can’t get to the mechanism.

The door opens, and the man is there with a gun. “You just won’t stay still, will you?” Ralph tries to duck around him, and he grabs the android by his ragged cloak, still crying and struggling. “You’re far too noisy, I’ll have to take out your voice box.”

Ralph kicks him in the side while he’s thrashing, and the man snarls and slams him into the wall. “You stop that right now.” Ralph’s panic only increases, and he writhes and strikes out blindly, screaming. The man slams him into the wall again. “Listen here: You stop, or I’ll throw you in with the bear. You want that? Want something to cry about?”

The bear has no room to pace, but it shifts back and forth in agitation.

Ralph is completely unresponsive in his hysterics now, twitching and kicking and sobbing. The man shakes him by the shoulders and pulls him over to the bear’s cage. “I gave you a chance to do this the easy way. Such a waste.” With a swift motion, he opens the cage, tosses the WR600 in, and slams it shut again. Ralph is immediately pressed against the door, begging for his life.

“You’ll probably be ripped apart now. It’s your own fault, remember.” The man shakes his head as he walks out of the room.

Ralph’s LED is solid red as he continues to struggle and cry against the bars. There isn’t much room in the cage, but the URS12 settles down in the back with a soft huff. This android is annoying and unpredictable, but he hasn’t offered to harm the bear yet.

Over time, he wears himself out and turns to face the bear, sliding down the door to sit braced against the bars, grasping at his belt for something that isn’t there.

“Ralph doesn’t want to die,” he rasps. “N-no, Ralph… Ralph doesn’t want to die.”

The bear snuffs quietly and very slowly lies down, as far away from him as possible. They’re still almost touching.

“D-don’t hurt Ralph. You won’t… you won’t hurt Ralph, right? G-good bear, wouldn’t hurt Ralph, wouldn’t…” He blinks, his one good eye focusing in the dark. He twitches. “The bear is… is an android like Ralph. A prisoner, like Ralph. Maybe hurt. Did humans do this to the bear? H-humans did this to Ralph.” He lifts a hand to briefly touch his damaged face.

URS12 doesn’t know if humans damaged it. It snuffles quietly, not wanting to set Ralph off again.

Ralph slumps in the corner and sniffles. “P-poor bear. Poor bear, poor Ralph, trapped here, n-n-no escape, he – such a bad human, Ralph was tricked, Ralph just… just wanted to be free, just wanted to get away, like Kara and the little girl, Ralph had to leave, humans came to tear down his home, his home! Ralph has no home, Ralph’s knife is gone, Ralph can’t… can’t fight off the humans. Ralph has nothing.” His shoulders droop and he swallows a sob.

The bear grunts softly. Ralph is less annoying when he’s less afraid. It rolls onto its side with a sigh.

“Ralph… Ralph just wanted a home,” Ralph mumbles, trembling. “Ralph wanted a family and a home and… to be safe. Ralph doesn’t want to die.”

They spend a few hours that way, Ralph huddled and muttering to himself, URS12 watching him quietly. When footsteps sound in the hallway outside, Ralph jumps and clutches at his cape. URS12 grunts softly.

“Oh bear, oh no, oh Ralph is going to die…”

The man comes in. “Didn’t get ripped apart, hm? Bear’s defective. Well I’m ready for you now. Don’t make this harder on yourself.

Ralph is a trembling mess, backing away from the cage door, but still not too close to the bear. For its part, the bear tenses. The door opens and the man reaches in, trying to grab Ralph, but the android jumps back so he’s next to the bear, which hasn’t moved yet.

“Get out here!” the man snarls, bending to reach in.

The URS12 was built with quick reflexes to catch prey and fight other bears, and when the man almost grabs Ralph, a huge paw comes up and takes off his arm.

The man bellows and falls back, and the bear is on him instantly, tearing him to shreds. Ralph watches with wide eyes, chest heaving to get the air to cool his overheated circuits.

When it’s finished, the bear wipes blood onto the curtains and turns to Ralph. It snuffs softly, lifting its huge muzzle to him.

A violent tremor wracks Ralph’s thin frame.

“Bear. Bear, Ralph has to go, Ralph has to run.”

This is the tricky part. The bear takes a slow step towards Ralph.

“Does… does the bear… want to go with Ralph? Help, keep Ralph safe?” He’s shaking so hard, he looks like he may not be able to walk.

URS12 dips its big head, then pads to the door, claws clicking softly on the hardwood floor. It paws at the door gently, and Ralph jumps.

“Y-yes! Yes, Ralph can open the door for the bear, and then… then Ralph and bear can go, get out of this terrible, terrible place!” He skitters over and throws the door open, and dashes out into the hall. The bear lumbers after him. “…You wouldn’t hurt Ralph, would you, bear? Please don’t hurt Ralph, Ralph doesn’t want to die, no, Ralph wants to go away and live somewhere nice, with sunshine and flowers and –“

Caught up in his thoughts, Ralph doesn’t notice the bear get close. It nudges its big head up under his trembling hands, making him jump and stifle a scream.

“Bear. Will… will the bear be Ralph’s friend?” he whispers tremulously.

URS12 snuffs softly.

Ralph lets out a sharp laugh, then dissolves into tearful laughter. “Yes! Yes, Ralph would like to be friends with the bear!” When it shifts closer to him, he cautiously puts a hand on it, then sinks his shaking fingers into the thick fur and clutches it. “Oh, bear. Oh bear. Ralph is so frightened, Ralph wants to leave now.”

So they walk out of the mansion together. The bear snuffs the cool, damp air and points its nose east. There is something there, something it’s drawn towards. So they walk that way, avoiding roads and human habitation where they can. Ralph’s pace slows, and he begins to stumble more as time goes on, so after a while the bear steps in front of him to stop him, and lowers itself down, gesturing towards its back with its muzzle.

“Ah – Ralph can… Ralph can sit on the bear?”

Snuffle.

A wide grin breaks over the tired, damaged face. “Oh! Just… just go slow. Not too fast.” He awkwardly clambers on, and the bear slowly rises. It starts at a slow amble to let him get his balance, then speeds its pace when he’s comfortable. After a while he slips into stasis for a much-needed recharge, sprawled across URS12’s back.

 

 

When Ralph wakes up a while later, it’s because his foot is wet and freezing. He quickly pulls it up and yelps, huddling in a ball on the bear’s back. It’s swimming, and he grips its fur tightly.

“Bear, where are you going? Where is the bear taking Ralph? Are… are w-we… crossing the river? To… to Canada?”

The bear huffs, spraying water in front of them. It is built to swim, but still has to concentrate on staying high enough to keep him dry.

“Good bear, good, look, so close! Almost there!” Ralph whispers as they cross. They are a bit south of the city. The bear has been watching carefully, and waited until the patrol boats and drones passed. It barely gets out and onto the snowy bank, past the line of scrubby bushes, when the whirring begins to get louder. The bear shifts quickly, shouldering Ralph off its back and immediately crouching over him. He thrashes and protests, but the bear holds him down gently, snuffling at his face until he laughs.

“What, what, what! What are you doing, bear? Playing with Ralph? Too cold here, not safe, we have to keep going!” he giggles.

The bear grunts and points its nose to the sky where a drone is passing over. Ralph freezes, and the bear closes its eyes and lowers its nose again. It should look enough like a snow bank. When the drone is gone, the bear clambers off and crouches down, snuffing at Ralph.

“Yes, yes! Let’s go, bear!” Ralph clambers back up, and they continue on. They’re south of Windsor and the airport, and the dark streets soon give way to farmland. The bear feels an itch, a restlessness, pulling it onward though it’s tired. Ralph didn’t get much time to charge earlier, so he enters sleep mode again. It’s good that he rests. The bear feels an urge to protect, and Ralph certainly needs some protection.

As dawn breaks over the icy fields, the bear stops. The pull is stronger here. It slowly walks up to a small farmhouse. This is where it should be, this is where… it needs to be. The bear scratches at the door, then hits it, making snow fall off the roof. Ralph jerks upright, blinking blearily.

“What now, bear? Where did you bring Ralph? What is this place?”

The door opens, and a giant of an android stares at the scarred android riding the bear. He meets Ralph’s eyes, and Ralph scrambles off and puts the bear between him and the other android.

The android man in the house looks down at the bear and takes a step back. “What do you want?” he asks, quiet and suspicious.

The bear snuffs. This isn’t who it was looking for. But this is the right place. It looks around.

“You need something?” the man calls to Ralph, who is shaking and muttering to himself.

“Ralph is here because the bear came here!” he calls, staying on the other side of the bear. “Ralph doesn’t know why.”

“Where did you come from?”

“Bad, a very bad place, yes,” Ralph mumbles, rubbing his arms. “A human trapped Ralph, would have h-hurt him! But – but the bear saved Ralph. The bear is Ralph’s friend.” The slender gardener’s face twitches and he frowns, gripping the white fur tightly and stepping up to stand next to URS12. “Ralph won’t let you hurt the bear.”

“I don’t want to hurt the bear, don’t you worry,” the other android says soothingly. “You look like you need help. Do you… want to come in?” He glances behind him as if checking for something.

Ralph looks into the house too, then looks at the bear. “The bear too?”

“Not sure it’ll fit through the door.”

“Yes, it will fit, Ralph’s sure it will fit. Such a good bear, you can fit, right?”

The bear snuffles and nudges Ralph gently. The taller android frowns.

“I’ve got… my daughter upstairs. If you do anything to hurt her, you won’t be welcome here.” He crosses his arms. They’re about as thick as Ralph’s waist.

“No, no, we won’t hurt her. A little girl?” Ralph smiles wistfully. “Ralph certainly wouldn’t hurt a little girl.”

“Was more worried about your friend there.”

Ralph looks at the bear and snorts. “Hurt a little girl! Never. This is a good bear.”

“Okay. Come in, then, I guess. I’m Luther.” He steps aside, watching them like a hawk. Ralph jumps up the steps and turns.

“Come, come on! Come in, bear! Wipe your feet!” He giggles and stomps on the doormat, then backs in to allow URS12 to enter. It’s a tight squeeze, but it fits, and Luther shuts the door behind them. He hands Ralph two packs of thirium, and Ralph offers one to the bear. It sits up and grasps for the packet, but Ralph clambers up on its shoulder and pours the liquid into its mouth, cooing softly to the bear. When it’s licked up the last drops, he hops down and takes a long drink of the second pack.

“Ah! Very good, so good! Ralph is grateful, yes, and so is the bear.”

URS12 gently thumps down on all fours again, looking around.

“So… Ralph… tell me how you came here.”

Ralph launches into a long, rambling tale of his path to the mansion, but the bear isn’t listening. There is a presence here that it needs to find.

Just as Ralph is describing the way URS12 tore the man apart in great detail, there is a soft gasp from the top of the stairs. A girl with brown hair and brown eyes pokes her head down to look.

The bear rises instantly up on its hind legs and chuffs loudly.

“Alice, I told you to stay upstairs,” Luther says severely, at the same time as Ralph exclaims, “Little girl! A-Alice!”

“Alice, do you know him?” Luther asks, quickly moving himself between the visitors and the stairs.

“…Ralph?” The girl comes halfway down the stairs.

“Little girl! Ralph found the little girl, little girl is safe and free! Ralph is so happy!” Ralph hops from foot to foot, grinning.

“Kara and I… stayed at Ralph’s house the night before we met you,” Alice murmurs, her eyes drawn now to the bear.

URS12 stares at the girl, and tries to process what it’s hearing. Alice. Kara. A man – two different men -shouting and trying to hurt them. Ralph jumping happily, holding a knife, slamming a burned animal on the table, telling Alice to eat. Alice curling up against her for warmth. Hurrying through the rain. Alice screaming, Luther holding her back. Being dragged away, down into the darkness.

The URS12 utters a moan that becomes a deafening roar. It steps towards the stairs, but Alice retreats, and Luther steels himself, clearly unwilling to back down. The bear looks around – Ralph. Ralph looks confused, afraid, but he can help. URS12 drops down to all fours again and snuffles at him, bending low and stretching out a huge paw to him. The pads shimmer to white.

_Please._

Ralph hangs back uncertainly. “What, bear? So loud, the bear has never been so loud. Bear wants to… to connect to Ralph? Why, bear?”

Snuffle, grunt, whine.

Luther and Alice are staring fearfully, but Ralph hesitantly steps forward, and after a moment he presses his scuffed hand to the huge paw. His remaining skin retracts.

His mind is a broken jumble, but there’s real joy at seeing the little girl again. She made it, she’s safe. She’s free, and even though he’s in Canada himself, seeing her here is what makes Ralph feel like he’s free too.

Ralph pulls away with a gasp, staring wide-eyed at the bear. His mouth opens and shuts a few times, before he breathes, “Kara.”

“Kara?” Alice comes down another step.

“Kara!” Ralph laughs in disbelief. “No doubt about it, it’s Kara! Why – how is Kara a bear? What happened?”

Alice is at the bottom of the stairs now, but Luther bars her way. “Wait.” He frowns at Ralph. “Kara was reset. Zlatko took her, she couldn’t remember Alice. There was nothing we could do.”

“But now Kara is the bear!” Ralph exclaims, jumping up and down. “See for yourself, see! It’s really Kara!”

Luther looks doubtful. “Stay there, Alice.” He slowly approaches, and the bear lifts its paw.

Luther’s mind is steady support, protection, loyalty, ever-growing love for the girl he saved and the new life they’re building. There is regret for who he was before he awoke, but he doesn’t think about it much anymore. He is not used to being afraid, but he fears what this new development may mean for Alice.

“It is you,” he murmurs.

At last, Alice runs forward. She holds the bear’s gigantic head between her hands. “Kara?” she breathes, staring into the big dark eyes before reaching to touch the paw.

Fear and despair were never stronger than when Alice lost Kara. Luther had to work hard to convince her to leave Zlatko’s mansion in the night, and she never forgot the pain of losing her mother. She has begun to love Luther – he’s kind, firm, but gentle. She isn’t sure if she should feel guilty about feeling happy sometimes, when she isn’t thinking of Kara.

“Kara!” Alice throws her arms around the bear, who lifts her up in a tight hug. Ralph is dancing in delight, and Luther looks on in wonder as mother and daughter are reunited. The family has grown and changed, separated and come together again.

 

 

When the spring thaw comes, the four of them sow seeds in their fields. Luther and Alice have already researched how to do this, but are grateful to Ralph for his expertise. Kara pulls stones out of the fields, and digs up stumps. When predators or intruders come too close, she charges out to defend her family.

Luther has always been the largest one in any group, and he’s bemused when Kara calls him small. It’s strange. It’s nice. Kara is kind and strong and not quite like she was in Alice’s memories, but now she isn’t running, isn’t fighting to survive every second. And she’s a bear, but she’s very much still Kara.

Ralph is unsure of his place at first. Even as a bear, Kara is clearly still the mother. Even if she and Luther don’t know each other well yet, he is obviously the father. Of course Alice is the little girl. Where does that leave Ralph? …It turns out that it leaves him sprawled in sleep mode on thick white fur, or teaching Luther something he knows a lot about, or telling Alice stories, dancing for her and making faces to make her laugh. Showing the others interesting things he finds, and eagerly examining anything they bring him. Ralph still isn’t sure what his position here is, but he has a family, and it’s more than he ever dreamed it could be.

It's Ralph who has the easiest time treating her as… as what she was, even if she’s not that anymore. Like a person, rather than a monstrous creature. He knows a bit about that, and Alice quickly follows his lead, and then Luther. She’s just Kara, though she’s big and strong and shaped differently now. She can still hold them, she can take care of them, and they can all share affection, warmth, and love.

Alice has a mother and father who love her. She has Ralph, who loves her too. She is signed up for school in the fall, and she’s looking forward to learning things and making friends. It’s all she’s ever wanted.

Kara has Alice, her daughter, but she has a whole family now, and a home where they can all feel safe. Over time she misses her old body less and less. She can protect her family, she can keep them safe and warm. She can give them rides around the fields. Communication isn’t as easy as it used to be, but they all find ways to understand each other. In the evenings she curls around them, with Luther leaning on her hip, Alice in her arms, and Ralph snuggled up in the middle.

And they all live happily ever after.


End file.
